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Revolution season preview: Roster revamp leads to optimism entering franchise’s 30th MLS season
"I think we’re very well balanced with a lot of depth, and we have the right profiles now in every position in the way that I see the game, in the blueprint that I have, and in the game model that I have."
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Last year, the Revolution shook up the coaching staff. This time, the roster went through the ringer, as coach Caleb Porter added 14 players, recruited from nine countries and four continents, in preparation for the team’s 30th MLS season.
“If you scout the right way, you know what you are getting in terms of the play, the qualities, and the character,” Porter said this week. “I feel like we did our due diligence on every guy to kind of know what we were getting. We have guys from all over the world, so really just learning about them as people, that’s the fun part. I think we have a group. I think we’re very well balanced with a lot of depth, and we have the right profiles now in every position in the way that I see the game, in the blueprint that I have, and in the game model that I have. Obviously, we need time to develop that chemistry, that connection, and those relationships.”
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The roster revamp actually began soon after last season’s opener, a 1-0 victory over CA Independiente in the CONCACAF Champions League on Feb. 21. Only one player, captain Carles Gil, from the lineup that won the match in central Panama remains in contention to start for the Revolution when they visit Nashville SC on Saturday.
So far, the newcomers are clicking. The Revolution spent most of the preseason in Bradenton, Fla., training and competing on grass fields, compiling a 4-1-1 record. Now, though, they will be acclimatizing to a cooler climate and an artificial home playing surface at Gillette Stadium.
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Porter has rejuvenated the Revolution, discarding several veterans and reducing the roster’s average age to 24.7 years, which should energize the team’s pressing tactics.
Porter is sticking with a 4-2-3-1 alignment but emphasizing a left-side attack via defender Will Sands and winger Ignatius Ganago, which should also help open the right side for defender Brandon Bye and winger Luca Langoni.
The back line’s new look includes four central defenders — starters Bryan Ceballos (Colombia) and Mamadou Fofana (Mali), and backups Tanner Beason (ex-San Jose Earthquakes) and Wyatt Omsberg (Scarborough, Maine) — along with right back Ilay Feingold (Israel) and left back Damario McIntosh (Jamaica). Supporting Gil in midfield will be Jackson Yueill, who has earned 16 US national team caps, along with holdovers Matt Polster (out with a leg injury) and Alhassan Yusuf. Up front will be Leonardo Campana (Ecuador) and Ganago (Cameroon), with Luis Diaz (Costa Rica), Allan Oyirwoth (Uganda), and Maxi Urruti (Argentina) in reserve.
The Revolution also are hoping to capitalize on dead-ball situations, hiring Spaniard Marc Ortí Esteban as an assistant coach specializing in set pieces. The Revolution have mostly been squandering opportunities, despite Gil’s ability to draw fouls, which added significance to the final preseason match, a 2-0 win over Hartford Athletic at Gillette Stadium. Both goals resulted from set plays, as Campana headed in a Yueill corner kick, and Urruti converted an impressive direct free kick from the edge of the penalty arc.
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“In most leagues in the world, 25-35 percent of the goals scored are on set pieces,” Porter said. “We weren’t really good last year on that, and we thought it was important to bring in a guy that could run those. Look around the world, a lot of the top clubs in the world have set piece coaches. It’s not something in MLS that many clubs have.”
Last year, the Revolution went 9-21-4 (31 points) in league play and 13-23-7 in all competitions. Porter began renovating the roster in April, adding defender Xavier Arreaga (now playing in Ecuador) and goalkeeper Aljaz Ivacic, later bringing in Langoni, Sands, and Yusuf. During the offseason, several regulars departed, including leading scorer Giacomo Vrioni (nine goals), traded to FC Montreal, and Esmir Bajraktarevic, sold to PSV Eindhoven. Among those surviving the cuts were forward Tomas Chancalay and defender Peyton Miller (both out with injuries), and reserves Noel Buck, Andrew Farrell, Malcolm Fry, and Jack Panayotou.
Along with trying to develop cohesion, the Revolution will be contending with a history of slow starts. The Revolution have compiled a 6-16-7 record since 1996, and have won only once in league season openers since 2013, a 1-0 result at Charlotte FC in 2023 on defender Henry Kessler 89th-minute finish of a corner kick.
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“What we want to be is four weeks in, but to look like we have been together four months,” Porter said. “I think we’re starting to see that chemistry and those connections. The analogy I always use is the spokes of the wheel — when the spokes in the wheel are right, then the wheel rolls good. I think we’re starting to get the spokes of the wheel right and that understanding of how we want to play. But also, there is a creativity that starts to show up as well, where their instincts are taking over, they’re making decisions, and reading the game.”
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